Bitcoin’s mining math hit a fresh high this week as the network’s difficulty climbed to a new all-time peak of 135 trillion. Miners now need more computing work than ever to win a block, while the overall hashpower available to the network has slipped from its summer peak.

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Mining Difficulty Reaches New High

According to on-chain data, network hashrate fell to 967 billion hashes per second after topping 1 trillion hashes per second on August 4. That gap — rising difficulty paired with a lower hashrate — tightens margins for miners.

Reports have disclosed that higher difficulty makes mining more costly, and the pressure is felt most by smaller operations that run on narrow profit margins.

Big miners have room to scale. Smaller teams do not. Costs for electricity, machines and maintenance add up fast. The situation raises concern about concentration. As the cost to operate rises, larger pools and firms are better positioned to absorb the pain and keep hashing.

Solo Miners Still Score Big

Despite those headwinds, Three solo miners managed to land blocks in July and August, proving the system still hands out rewards to individuals now and then. Reports show the block subsidy is 3.125 BTC per block. On July three, a solo miner found block 903,883 and took home just under $350,000 in subsidy plus fees.

Another solo miner added block 907,283 on July 26, claiming over $373,000 when prices at the time were used to value the reward. On August 17, block 910,440 was mined by a solo operator, yielding roughly $373,000 in subsidy and fees.

Those payouts highlight two facts. First, solo success is rare but possible. Second, occasional large rewards do not erase the steady advantage of scale. Pools still smooth earnings for participants, and many miners use them to avoid long dry spells.

Seasonality And Market Patterns

Meanwhile, September has a poor historical record for Bitcoin, with an average return of -3.77% across 12 years beginning in 2013, researchers say.

Bitcoin endured six straight losing Septembers from 2017 through 2022. The streak reversed in 2023, and 2024 closed out as the best September on record at +7.29%.

Related Reading

What This Means Now

In short, the network’s math is becoming tougher at the same time mining capacity dipped slightly. That creates tighter margins and fuels debate over centralization as scale matters more.

Yet the ecosystem still shows variety: solo miners can and do win blocks, and market history gives investors a mixed picture where seasonal trends matter but do not guarantee outcomes.

For now, miners and market watchers alike will be tracking difficulty, hashrate and price swings as the fall unfolds.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

Crypto Journalist

Amin Ayan

About Author

Amin Ayan is a crypto journalist with over four years of experience in the industry. He has contributed to leading publications such as Cryptonews, Investing.com, 99Bitcoins, and 24/7 Wall St. He has…

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September 6, 2025

Shares of Robinhood jumped 7% in after-hours trading Friday after the retail brokerage was named to the S&P 500.

Robinhood (HOOD) closed just above $101 and soared past $108 in extended trading following the announcement.

The company’s share price has climbed over 150% year-to-date, driven by strong earnings and growing retail interest in stocks and crypto.

Robinhood to Join S&P 500 on September 22

Robinhood will officially join the index on September 22, alongside ad-tech firm AppLovin, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

While Robinhood celebrates its inclusion, Strategy, the Bitcoin treasury firm formerly known as MicroStrategy, was left off the list, despite meeting S&P’s $20 billion market cap requirement.

Strategy, which now holds more than $70 billion in Bitcoin, saw its shares fall 3% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

The omission surprised some observers, given Strategy’s $95 billion valuation and its pioneering role in bringing Bitcoin to public balance sheets.

Based in Tysons Corner, Virginia, the company has become synonymous with corporate crypto adoption.

The S&P reshuffle comes amid rising institutional interest in digital assets and a more favorable political environment.

Earlier this year, Coinbase was added to the S&P index, signaling growing recognition of crypto-native companies in traditional financial markets.

Robinhood’s strong fundamentals further fueled its rally. In Q2, the company posted $989 million in revenue, up 45% year-over-year, beating Wall Street estimates.

Net income hit $386 million, with earnings per share of $0.42, well above analyst forecasts.

Crypto trading revenue came in at $160 million, nearly doubling year-over-year but down from the previous quarter’s $252 million.

Meanwhile, income from options trading and equities reached $265 million and $66 million, respectively, making options Robinhood’s top revenue stream once again.

Robinhood Sues Nevada, New Jersey Regulators Over Event Contracts

Last month, Robinhood Derivatives took legal action against regulators in Nevada and New Jersey, accusing the states of unfairly blocking its entry into the sports event contracts market, despite recent federal court rulings in favor of rival platform Kalshi.

The firm said it began offering event contracts in both states after federal judges ruled earlier this year that Nevada and New Jersey gaming regulators could not enforce their bans against Kalshi, which offers contracts regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Robinhood argued that regulators have ignored those rulings and continued to threaten enforcement action, creating an uneven playing field.

“If state regulators are permitted to act against Robinhood but not Kalshi, then Robinhood will lose out in the sports event contracts space,” the company said in its filings.

Meanwhile, Robinhood has come under regulatory fire in the EU after launching tokenized stock products linked to private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX.

The Bank of Lithuania confirmed it is investigating the legality and investor disclosures related to these blockchain-based “Stock Tokens,” which launched on June 30.

OpenAI publicly disavowed any connection, stating it never approved the tokens and warning investors to be cautious.

American Bitcoin (ABTC), a newly public bitcoin mining and treasury firm backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, opened for trade Wednesday morning after completing its merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP).

Wasting little time, the company filed for an at-the-market equity raise of up to $2.1 billion with which to continue building its bitcoin (BTC) holdings (which footed to 2,443 coins at the time of the merger).

Shares have rocketed 60% to $11 versus the $6.90 price at the time of the merger Tuesday evening.

Its the latest chapter in American Bitcoin’s rapid formation, which began in March through a combination of the Trump brothers’ American Data Centers and Canadian mining firm Hut 8 (HUT). Hut 8 now holds an 80% ownership stake in the newly listed entity.

American Bitcoin’s business combines bitcoin mining with a corporate treasury approach centered on accumulating the asset. Since its inception earlier this year, the company has amassed 2,443 bitcoin, worth approximately $160 million at current prices. This hybrid model — mining bitcoin while holding it as a balance sheet asset — mirrors strategies used by other high-profile mining firms such as Marathon Digital.

Ethereum’s rally this month has been sharp, but traders are being warned to watch September closely.

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Ether climbed about 20% since the start of August, trading at $4,745 at the time of publication. Prices even pierced $4,860 after dovish remarks from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium, a move that many in crypto see as a possible spark for more gains.

Historic September Pullbacks

According to CoinGlass, history offers a cautionary note: there have been only three cases since 2016 where Ether rose in August and then slid in September.

In 2017, Ether jumped 92% in August and then dropped 20% the following month. In 2020, August gains of 25% were followed by a 17% pullback in September.

And in 2021, a 35% climb in August gave way to a 12% slip in September. CryptoGoos, a trader on X, summed it up bluntly: seasonality in September during post-halving years tends to be negative.

$ETH seasonality in September during post-halving years is typically negative.

Will this time be different? pic.twitter.com/h9hJ40V3np

— CryptoGoos (@crypto_goos) August 22, 2025

That pattern does not mean a repeat is guaranteed. Reports have disclosed that both market structure and investor profiles are different now than in those earlier years.

In 2016 and 2020, short-term losses in September were followed by multi-month recoveries, with Ether posting upside in the final three months of those years. So while history matters, it does not decide outcomes on its own.

New Money, New Dynamics

Flows into spot Ether ETFs this month have been large enough to grab attention. Based on reports from Farside, spot Ether ETFs saw roughly $2.70 billion net inflows in August, while spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced about $1.2 billion in net outflows over the same period.

At the same time, companies that hold crypto on their balance sheets now control a sizable chunk of Ether. Reports show total Ether held by treasury companies topped $13 billion in value on Aug. 11.

Arkham reported that BitMine chairman Tom Lee bought another $45 million of Ether, lifting BitMine’s stack to $7 billion.

Those numbers change the math. Big institutional stacks and ETF demand can make sharp, short-term moves more persistent than in prior cycles.

Capital appears to be rotating; Bitcoin dominance has fallen 5% over the past 30 days to 55%, which market participants mostly attribute to funds moving into assets beyond Bitcoin.

Related Reading

What Traders Might Do Next

Traders and portfolio managers will likely keep an eye on macro signals and flow data. A softer interest rate outlook from Powell is a bullish factor for risk assets, but seasonality and previous post-August declines are reasons to stay cautious.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Ethereum-focused SharpLink’s stock climbed more than 15% to trade above $20 after the company’s board approved a $1.5 billion stock repurchase program.

In its Aug. 22 press statement, SharpLink explained that the authorization allows for buybacks through multiple channels, including open-market purchases and privately negotiated deals.

The company emphasized that the scale of repurchases will depend on factors such as trading conditions, liquidity, and market price.

Meanwhile, the firm stressed that the initiative does not commit it to a fixed number of shares, and the board reserves the right to pause or end the program if circumstances change.

Why does SharpLink want a stock buyback program

SharpLink Co-CEO Joseph Chalom said the move is designed to prevent dilution and strengthen the firm’s Ethereum-per-share value.

According to him, issuing additional equity would weaken ETH concentration if the company trades at or below its ETH holdings’ net asset value (NAV). In that scenario, buying back shares is considered the more beneficial path.

He added that every repurchase would lift the amount of ETH backing each share, compounding long-term benefits for investors.

Overall, the firm described its broader mission as accumulating and staking ETH with transparency and institutional discipline. So, by pairing buybacks with its Ethereum treasury strategy, SharpLink said it aims to reinforce shareholder confidence while maintaining its focus on ETH growth per share.

Ethereum rally impacts SharpLink shares

While the buyback plan is significant, SharpLink’s recent surge was largely supported by ETH’s price rally after the US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish comments about the US economy.

Data from CryptoSlate shows ETH has climbed more than 13% in the last 24 hours, reaching $4,876 as of press time.

This rally was part of a broader market uptrend, which saw Bitcoin and other top digital assets record significant gains, pushing the total crypto market above $4 trillion earlier today.

According to Strategic ETH Reserve data, SharpLink is the second-largest corporate holder of Ethereum. The Joseph Lubin-led firm holds 740,800 ETH, worth $3.59 billion.

The firm is sitting on an unrealized profit of more than $1 billion and earned more than 1300 ETH from staking its entire holdings.

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Solana (SOL) has reclaimed the $200 mark after falling to around $155 in late July, following the renewed interest in the market amid the ongoing altcoin season rally.

According to CryptoSlate’s data, the digital asset rose by more than 14% in the last 24 hours from $175 to as high as $202 as of press time.

The rally pushed the network’s market capitalization above $100 billion, signalling the renewed investor confidence the digital asset had drawn.

Market sentiments around Solana remain largely bullish, with crypto bettors on Polymarket expecting further price increases.

According to the platform’s data, around 84% of participants expect SOL to hit $210, while 43% believe the token could set a new all-time high before the end of 2025.

DeFi TVL rises

Meanwhile, Solana’s decentralized finance ecosystem is also experiencing significant growth.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that total value locked (TVL) in SOL terms hit more than 58 million tokens this week, marking the highest level in over three years.

Moreover, the dollar value of assets locked on the network has exceeded $11 billion for the second time this year, a milestone last reached in January.

At the same time, Solana’s decentralized exchange (DEX) activity has also maintained its lead over Ethereum for ten consecutive months.

Solana treasury companies

In addition to the current market trends, institutional activity appears to be supporting Solana’s gains.

As of the end of July, CoinGecko reported that Upexi, Inc. has emerged as the largest publicly traded holder of Solana, with 1.9 million SOL acquired at an average price of $168.63. These holdings are currently valued at $319.5 million.

Close behind is DeFi Developments Corp, which owns 1.18 million SOL purchased at an average of $137.07, now worth $198.9 million. This reflects an unrealized profit of approximately $36.8 million.

In addition, Toronto-based SOL Strategies holds 392,667 SOL, bought at an average of $158.12, representing an unrealized gain of about $3.9 million. Torrent Capital, while maintaining a smaller position of 40,039 SOL acquired at $161.84, is also in profit by roughly $200,000.

In total, these four firms collectively control over 3.5 million SOL, with a combined market value exceeding $591 million.

This represents about 0.65% of the circulating supply, underlining the growing appetite among publicly listed companies for Solana exposure and highlighting increasing institutional confidence in the asset’s long-term potential.

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Over the past week, the $PENGU token has increased 24.8%, riding a wave of bullish momentum fueled by ETF speculation, aggressive whale accumulation, and the growing institutional interest in meme coins.

Beyond Memes: Gaming, NFTs, and Real-World Utility

Pudgy Penguins is a Solana-based memecoin launched in late 2024 with an 88.9 billion total supply.

Last December, the project airdropped 62.86 billion tokens to Penguin NFT holders and broader Web3 participants, accelerating distribution and sparking fresh liquidity.

The protocol now underpins NFT collectibles, real-world licensing, and gaming titles such as “Pengu Clash,” which had over 2 million users sign up for its early access phase.

SPENGU’s tokenomics revolve around community governance and ecosystem funding. Currently, with 560.74k token holders, these holders vote on feature upgrades and grant allocations, while fee-generated proceeds support development.

Ecosystem partnerships now extend beyond digital art.

Collaborations with NASCAR and Lufthansa enable users to earn reward miles through $PENGU purchases, while Walmart-licensed merchandise and a planned integration with Ledger hardware wallet push utility into mainstream channels.

Still, the whales have been the major driver of the $PENGU price. On June 28, a net buy of $24 million in $PENGU set the rally in motion. That influx overwhelmed sellers, pushing $PENGU from $0.015 support to today’s highs.

Similarly, bids across Binance, OKX, and Gate.io rose 80% over 30 days, while the sell wall shrank 18%, easing pressure. Most telling, traderpow’s 94 million-token purchase soaked up liquidity and signaled bullish conviction.

Whales have ramped up $PENGU accumulation after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recognized Canary Capital’s ETF filing. This saw the price rise to a six-month high, as investors anticipated the ETF, slated to allocate both $PENGU tokens and Pudgy Penguins NFTs.

On July 9, the SEC initiated a 21-day public comment period on the 19b-4 filing, which likely fueled further buying momentum.

Historical ETF updates in March and June spurred similar rallies, and as bids swelled while selling pressure eased, whales continued to accumulate $PENGU.

$PENGU/USDT Breaks Out from Bullish Consolidation – Can Buyers Sustain the Rally?

The 4-hour chart of $PENGU/USDT shows a bullish breakout following a period of consolidation marked by higher lows, which is a typical structure that reflects accumulation, where buyers steadily step in at higher levels, absorbing supply and gradually pushing the price higher.

From there on (more specifically from late June through early July), $PENGU’s price formed a mild descending channel while maintaining a rising support trendline. This signaled that despite short-term pullbacks, the broader demand base was strengthening.

The breakout occurred late on July 9, as price decisively moved above the upper trendline of the consolidation zone near $0.0135.

This move was technically significant and was also backed by a substantial jump in volume. When a breakout occurs with significant volume, it could be speculated that institutional or high-volume traders are participating. It’s not just retail-driven momentum.

Following this volume pump, $PENGU’s asset price immediately rallied into the $0.019–$0.020 region, approaching a psychological resistance level.

Psychological resistance levels often act as natural barriers where traders place profit targets or sell orders, which is why price momentum may temporarily pause or reverse around such points.

The area between $0.0135 and $0.0150, previously an overhead barrier during the consolidation phase, became a key support zone, as it’s the level where the breakout was initiated.

This view is further supported by the volume footprint chart, which reveals the underlying order flow dynamics during the breakout.

During the rally, transaction volume spiked above $2 billion, with aggressive buying and selling occurring in real-time.

In one of the breakout candles, total buy volume reached $983.35 million, but was outweighed by $1.08 billion in sell volume, resulting in a net delta of -95.25 million.

This suggests that sellers were actively offloading into strength, likely taking profits or initiating hedges against the rally. The next session also closed with a negative delta of -28.23 million, hinting at some lingering resistance.

If buyers remain active and rising volume pushes the price above $0.020, the uptrend may continue. A drop below the new support zone could lead to a pullback or extended consolidation. The market structure looks positive. Clear support and resistance levels will likely determine the next price movement.

The post $PENGU Soars 33% Overnight as Whale Frenzy & ETF Hype Ignite Memecoin Rally—What’s Next? appeared first on Cryptonews.

The U.S. Secret Service, better known for protecting American presidents, has emerged as a major force in the fight against cryptocurrency crime, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

Through its Global Investigative Operations Center (GIOC), the agency has seized nearly $400 million in digital assets over the past decade. Much of that sits in a single cold wallet that is now among the most valuable globally.

With digital fraud driving a majority of internet crime in the U.S., losses tied to crypto scams reached $9.3 billion in 2024, FBI data show. Investment frauds, fake platforms and extortion schemes disproportionately affect older victims, who lost nearly $2.8 billion last year. The GIOC uses open-source tools, subpoenas and blockchain analysis to trace stolen funds.

Led by attorney Kali Smith, the unit trains law enforcement globally, targeting jurisdictions vulnerable to lax oversight. A recent workshop in Bermuda underscored the risks facing crypto-friendly regions. Industry partners like Coinbase and Tether have assisted in large-scale recoveries, including $225 million in USDT tied to romance-investment scams.

“This training is part of our mission,” said Patrick Freaney, head of the New York field office. “We’ve been following the money for 160 years.”

CORRECT (July 7, 08:43 UTC): Corrects that the Bloomberg report was published on Saturday, not Monday.

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the largest public holder of Bitcoin, is again making headlines—this time for potentially qualifying for inclusion in the prestigious S&P 500 index.

On July 1, Jeff Walton, founder of MSTR True North, revealed that the company will likely report an $11 billion net income for the just-concluded second quarter of the year.

Separately, Bloomberg estimated the figure could be even higher—up to $14 billion in unrealized profit—thanks to fair-value accounting standards applied to its Bitcoin holdings. This places the company in the same earnings bracket as tech giants like Apple and Microsoft.

Walton emphasized that this milestone clears the final hurdle for inclusion in the S&P 500, as it fulfills the profitability criterion based on a four-quarter cumulative positive income. However, the final decision rests with the S&P Index Committee, where debate is expected.

The S&P 500 comprises 500 top-performing US public companies by market capitalization, collectively representing around 80% of the total market cap of US equities. Entry into this index requires meeting several standards, including US domicile, sufficient liquidity, and positive earnings over the last four quarters.

Last year, Strategy was added to several top stock indexes like the Nasdaq 100 and MSCI World Index.

However, analysts like Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas have long viewed an S&P 500 inclusion as the firm’s “holy grail.” Such a move would significantly validate the firm’s unconventional Bitcoin-centric approach and raise its stature in mainstream finance.

The company’s stock trades well above the net asset value of its Bitcoin holdings, mainly due to investor demand for indirect crypto exposure.

This premium allows the firm to issue shares, raise capital, and acquire more Bitcoin. Though this dilutes existing shareholders’ equity, it increases the Bitcoin-per-share ratio, which helps boost the intrinsic value of each investor’s stake.

The strategy has also contributed to elevated share prices that have outperformed all those in the S&P 500 index since the firm adopted the Bitcoin standard in 2020.

So far, Strategy has acquired 597,325 BTC, valued at over $63.9 billion, with an unrealized gain exceeding $21 billion.

Interestingly, news of a potential inclusion in the S&P Index did not help boost market sentiment, with Strategy shares down 6% in early trading on July 1 to $379.20 as of press time.

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